


Ceasefire

by MegaWallflower



Series: rival villages au [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Different village!AU, Grief/Mourning, Hurt/Comfort, Iwagakure | Hidden Stone Village, M/M, Might Guy is a sweetheart, POV Hatake Kakashi, Rivalry, Third Shinobi War, Wound Cleaning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-27
Updated: 2020-03-27
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:53:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,113
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23338696
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MegaWallflower/pseuds/MegaWallflower
Summary: During the Third Shinobi World War, Kakashi finds himself injured, exhausted, and alone. Help arrives in the form of an unlikely ally: Might Guy, an enemy ninja from the Village Hidden in the Stone.(Canon-divergence AU. In which Guy is from Iwagakure.)
Relationships: Hatake Kakashi/Maito Gai | Might Guy
Series: rival villages au [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2001112
Comments: 22
Kudos: 190





	Ceasefire

**Author's Note:**

> Did you guys know that at first, Guy was going to be Kakashi's rival from a different village? It was such an interesting concept, I want to explore it!
> 
> So this is dedicated to the kkg discord, and especially to Yue! You guys inspired me to turn an idea into a fic and actually post it, too, somehow!

Another Iwa shinobi collapsed lifelessly as Kakashi pulled his hand out of his chest. Chidori pierced through their armor with ease now. Kakashi’s fingertips lit up with scorching flames and jolts of white static. The sounds of gushing blood and sliced arteries screamed into his ears like a reminder of all he’d done wrong, all he’d failed to do.

He didn’t have time to listen to it or think about it.

This was war, and there were still men twice his size that he had to cut through, more of Iwa’s soldiers who’d made the terrible choice to try to corner Kakashi. He wasn’t going to give them the satisfaction of knowing how worn-out he was, in every sense of the word.

The men had him surrounded, all of them staring intimidatingly, tauntingly, as if they were waiting for the boy to give them an opening. The tomoe of Kakashi’s sharingan whirled. They didn’t know what they were dealing with.

It took some time, but he whittled their forces down to one.

A sudden vertigo hit him as blood spilled from his eye like tears, coating the blade of a fallen kunai red as he crumpled to the ground. His tiny body shuddered from pain, vision blurring, chakra draining fast. He was barely able to dodge the foot that suddenly swung forth to kick his side, shifting just enough to avoid the full force of the blow. He heaved forward to grab the kunai and quickly rolled over to his right, jabbing the weapon straight through the offending foot.

"You little shit-" the shinobi snarled.

Kakashi took the opportunity to drag the blade straight down the entirety of the man's foot, severing the connection between his second and third toes. The cut was clean, exposing bone, as a wave of crimson droplets sprayed into his face. He took the chance to attack his leg and force the burly man to lose his balance fully.

When he fell, Kakashi flicked his kunai up from the foot towards the man's face. The body hit the ground like all the rest, with a heavy, lifeless thud.

That was the last of them.

A sudden sharp pain radiated across his arm and Kakashi collapsed to one knee with a grunt. He looked down and huffed when he saw crimson beginning to well up in the fresh wound, and he finally registered that it was his own blood this time.

He shakily forced himself back up to his feet. He had to get back to his team. He had to make it back. Then he’d be fine. Obito was already gone; if Kakashi wasn’t there to protect Rin for him—

His legs ached and his body fought for relief. His movements slowed and his eyelids grew heavy, jeopardizing his balance. His vision tripled and the world went black. The vague sound of the rustling leaves heading for him was the last thing he heard before he slipped out of consciousness and beneath the darkness.

* * *

His breath and sight and feelings came back to him with a ragged, gusty gasp.

He ached down to his bones. He reeked of blood and burnt hair and skin. He could tell he was covered with bruises. He could hardly catch his breath, much less move. His head was swimming, and his shoulder throbbed with pain.

But he was alive.

Kakashi stirred and slipped his hand out of whatever it was stuck in. It was only in the cold loss of touch that Kakashi realized it had been another person’s hand, loosely holding onto his wrist.

His eyesight slowly came into focus, both eyes staring up at the stalactites on the rocky ceiling above him. In the corner of his vision, a silver metal plate shone in the dim light of a campfire, shifting in and out of his line of sight as its wearer moved around.

Carved into the dented metal were two overlapping pentagons.

Kakashi’s eyes snapped open the instant he recognized that emblem.

The symbol of Iwagakure.

He was up on his feet immediately, alert and poised like he'd never blacked out, an angry recognition flashing in his eyes. His kunai sliced through the air and just barely missed the throat of the man who pulled back to dodge just in time. He leapt back, wide-eyed at the site of the kunai in Kakashi’s hand before his gaze snapped back up towards Kakashi’s face.

A ragged sigh left the Iwa soldier, who rubbed his neck as if he had to make sure it was still attached to his body. “Phew! Wow, you almost killed me! You’re fast! Did you get that outta your system?”

Now that he could get a better look at him, it was clear that this one wasn’t even a man. He was a boy, barely older than Kakashi himself. Either way, that boy was still a ninja of Iwagakure, at least a chunin if the vest was anything to go by. Kakashi raised the kunai in his free hand, trying to steel himself from thinking the worst of the situation and preparing himself for another round as the Iwa ninja drew closer. “Well, good morning! Wait, it’s not morning… Um, how about, ‘did you sleep well’?” he asked in a clumsy attempt at hospitality.

Kakashi tried to force him away him at a distance, but the boy airily dodged everything Kakashi threw his way: kunai, shuriken, stones, fireballs, insults. The boy raised his hands and jumped back in hopes of de-escalating the situation. “Okay! I get it! You need your space! But hear me out!”

Fighting from a distance wasn’t working, so Kakashi pushed past his nausea and charged at his opponent with a flurry of wild slashes. Every time he got close enough to touch him, the Iwa ninja vanished and reappeared out of reach with a body flicker. He wasn’t making any effort to fight back. Kakashi charged up his gather and prepared to rush him with something more substantial and harder to dodge, but suddenly the boy reappeared right in front of him and forced him to stop short by grabbing him by the wrists and holding them apart in a firm grasp. “You’re definitely going to faint again if you do that! Kakashi Hatake, if you would just calm down, I could explain myself here!”

Kakashi narrowed his eyes. A snarl of suspicion coiled through him when he said his name, but it dawned on him that he recognized this one. Black hair, bowl cut, yellow scarf, orange legwarmers, that jarring green jumpsuit. “You’re… that acorn—”

“—Might Guy!” He interrupted squeakily. His cheeks burned red, which made him look even more ridiculous with that green jumpsuit and brown chunin vest. He released Kakashi’s wrists, spun around, and struck a dramatic pose as he tried that again, “My name is Might Guy! The one who’ll be the strongest man in the world! Remember it! And you’re Kakashi Hatake, of Konoha, right? My rival! From the chunin exams!”

Kakashi stepped back and rubbed his wrists. He wasn’t even being properly restrained. He counted himself lucky that he’d apparently been captured by the dumbest shinobi Iwagakure had to offer.

Seeing this hopeless little kid grandstanding there reminded Kakashi of the chunin exams he was talking about.

Exactly one team from Iwagakure had participated in it. Exactly one member of the Iwa team was so young that they brought their father along with them, a genin father so dorky that even the grown chunin laughed at how he went around gawking at everything in the village. His kid picked a fight with people laughing at his dad, got his ass kicked, and Kakashi stepped in out of second-hand embarrassment from watching some kid not even be able to defend his own father properly. And that kid had been Guy.

Kakashi getting involved with that at all had been more about how Kakashi hadn’t been able to do anything for Sakumo than it had anything to do with some random foreign ninja, but from there, Guy was annoyingly obsessed with challenging Kakashi for the whole time he was in the village for the exams.

Kakashi had made the mistake of relenting the Iwa ninja’s incessant requests for a match before the exams started to get him off his back. Shuriken, races, taijutsu, rock-paper-scissors… He’d beat him then, and he beat him again at the chunin exams.

Guy had chased Kakashi down afterwards to promise that he’d be stronger the next time they met and he’d be waiting for a rematch. Because, as Guy had declared again and again, he and Kakashi were rivals now.

Kakashi hadn’t taken him seriously at the time. He didn’t expect to see the kid ever again after that. In the back of his mind, he’d expected Guy to be the first to die in the upcoming war.

He supposed this was Guy proving that he was as blindly stubborn as ever. Kakashi never should’ve bothered with him in the first place.

With both his hands freed up, Kakashi tried again to charge up a lightning release. He felt the blood rushing from his head and he was already dizzy again, his palms sweaty on his skin. His own touch felt both icy and lukewarm, a touch of death. He swayed and wheezed, even as he did his best to appear threatening.

In sharp contrast, Guy held his empty hands out in front of him peaceably. “Stop it! I’m not here to fight! You’re hurt! Please let me tend your wounds before you do anything reckless!”

He wasn’t wrong. Kakashi was physically, mentally and emotionally exhausted.

Two jagged gouges ran from the top of Kakashi’s blood and dirt smeared arm. Between the blood loss and sharingan his body still wasn’t used to, Kakashi had been drained to the point of fatigue. Adrenaline and wariness were the only things still holding his body up and steadying his legs at this point.

Seeing that Kakashi was unconvinced, Guy tried to appeal to sentiment instead, “You’re fighting so hard because you have something to get back to, right?”

_Minato. Kushina._

_Rin._

Guy winked and gave him a thumbs up. “Won’t it help if you don’t faint and hit your head somewhere again? It’ll be easier if you rest for a second somewhere where you’re not out in the open, right? You’re safe here for now! I promise you that! If I break that promise, I’ll run a thousand laps around the battlefield! How’s that sound?”

It sounded like a taunt, like pretty words and a false sense of security.

Kakashi charged at him again, but a wave of vertigo overtook him, the world did flips, and he felt himself falling. The only thing that kept him from hitting the cold hard ground or brushing the edge of the campfire was Guy rushing forward to catch him in his arms.

Kakashi shoved away from Guy, grabbed him roughly by the arms, and manhandled him until Guy’s back slammed against the hard cave wall. He kept him pinned there with one of Kakashi’s hands flat against the wall next to Guy’s head, and the other hand pressing a kunai against Guy’s neck.

Iwa took Obito away. They tried to take Rin. Kakashi wasn’t naïve enough to let his guard down, no matter what any of them had to say to him, not even for one as unthreatening and childish as Guy.

Kakashi panted heavily as a trail of sweat was working its way down his temple. Meanwhile, Guy just grinned, calm breathing mixed with a brief, relieved laugh. “You’re full of energy! That’s reassuring!” He said, peaceable and almost playful.

“Shut it,” Kakashi murmured in shaky, uneven huffs of breath. “What am I doing here?”

There was a rumbling in Guy’s throat, a pensive hum or maybe more laughter, as he seemed to consider his answer. “I can’t ‘shut it’ and answer that at the same time—”

The blade pressed harder against Guy’s neck, not enough to sever it or make him gargle his own blood, but enough for a line of crimson to well up and drop down the sharpened metal. “I’ll cut your throat. That’ll shut you up.” The vests of Iwagakure lacked a proper neck guard, so the threat would be effortless to follow through with, even in Kakashi’s weakened state.

Despite the danger, Guy’s wide eyes were sparkling in awe. “You’re amazing,” he said quietly, his voice reverent and soft.

The sincere tone shook Kakashi to his core. He blinked up at him with a confused stare, head tilting to one side. Against his better judgement, he eased up his grip. “What am I doing here?” He asked again.

Guy gave him a straightforward answer this time. “I was doing a solo patrol of the area, and I found you! You were unconscious and really, really hurt, all black and blue and red. I wasn’t going to abandon my rival in his time of need! We’re the only ones here, I promise that, too.”

“Are the rest of you on your way here?”

“I haven’t reported back yet. I have bad memory sometimes, so when I do get back to Lord Onoki and the others, I’ll probably forget that I ran into you.” So, Guy was capable of that sort of cunning.

Kakashi returned the kunai to the pouch at his side. “Why should I believe a word you say?”

Guy’s grin widened. “I don’t think I thanked you for that time when you stepped in the save me, even though the people I was up against were two of your fellow shinobi from Konoha! Thank you for that! And thank you for disagreeing with them about my dad! Not even people in my own village would do that for me!”

Guy had just claimed that he was willing to keep secrets from his own kage, so Kakashi wasn’t sure why that sounded so honest. It did, though.

Kakashi finally closed his sharingan eye and limply sunk down into a crouch. “What, are you saying you owed me one?”

“Sort of? That’s not exactly it.” Slowly, cautiously, Guy knelt down in front of him and lay his hand atop Kakashi’s. The Konoha shinobi tensed, and for a moment, Guy thought he was going to tear his hand away. But he didn’t. The touch lingered for a long, quiet moment.

“Anyway, mind if I help you out a bit? I think you made your wound reopen.” Guy requested quietly.

Kakashi’s glare would have killed a lesser man, but he stayed silent, which was the closest thing to permission Guy was going to get. Guy dug around in his pouch for his ration of medical supplies.

Guy’s fingers curled around a bottle of saline solution. He glanced up into Kakashi’s eye, silently alerting him of his upcoming action, before pouring the disinfectant over his open wound.

Kakashi flinched, gasping at the stinging sensation, and tried to pull away. Guy stopped him, wrapping his fingers around his wrist as gently as he could. “Sor—”

“Shut it. Just hurry up,” Kakashi barked.

Guy nodded and breathed out slowly, cleaned the wound, then applied an ointment. It helped Kakashi to think about the fact that Guy was more vulnerable and distracted at the moment than Kakashi was. If he really tried to pull anything, Kakashi could think of a dozen ways to end this quickly.

That didn’t make this feel any less strange and unfamiliar, this skin against skin. For the little time he’d known him, Guy had never been one to read the room or understand personal space, or else he wouldn’t have been so determined to call some kid from another village his rival in the first place.

But at least in those dumb challenges and throughout the exams, they were separated by layers of armor and self-reliance; self-contained within their competitive machismo, behind the Will of Fire and the Will of Stone, behind the implicit knowledge that their countries would be going to war soon no matter how the exams ended and they should be ready to kill each other if and when the time came.

Now, all of that had been stripped away, and Kakashi simply found himself trapped between rock and a hot place. Guy had had the chance to kill Kakashi already, and he hadn’t taken it. More disturbingly, Kakashi had the chance to kill Guy easily— he still did— and he wasn’t doing it.

Guy’s fingers traced across Kakashi’s shoulder, over its curve and down the rise of his bicep to apply ointment to a long wound along his arm. Kakashi shifted uncomfortably beneath Guy’s touch.

There was careful hesitancy as Guy’s fingers pressed lightly into flesh, as he waited for a reaction. Not for words, because Kakashi didn't have the vocabulary. Ask him about the proper way to kill a man or what the laws and practices of Konoha were and why the mission and the village always come first, and he could speak at length, with perfect words that had been written for him and drilled into his head.

Ask him how he felt or if he was okay, and suddenly, the genius shinobi’s words failed him. No one ever taught him what how to answer that. Sakumo probably didn’t know how, himself.

But a sharp intake of breath and a tightening of the muscles beneath his hand were all Guy needed to know that Kakashi was hurting. He eased up and continued the ministrations more gently.

The wound finally clean, Guy studied it carefully. “I don’t think it needs stitches,” he concluded slowly, and Kakashi nodded sharply.

“Then just wrap it up. Get on with it.” Kakashi sounded almost too tired to be scornful – tired after the day’s fights, tired after months of watching shinobi throw one another to the dogs, tired after carrying the weight and guilt of Obito’s death on his shoulders still. At this point, he was barely maintaining consciousness.

Guy grabbed the roll of bandages from his pouch. “So demanding! I hope I can live up to Konoha’s high standards. I’m not exactly Miss Tsunade…” He gestured to the bandages wrapped around both his own arms and added, “I know my way around an injury, though!”

Kakashi let out a low hiss as Guy wrapped his arm in a fresh bandage. He felt foolish, like a child, reduced to letting an enemy ninja take care of him.

This Iwa ninja got under Kakashi’s skin. He always had, ever since the day they met. He was annoying and determined and didn’t know when to quit.

Even now he was annoying. He was only trying to help, and Kakashi knew the pain he was causing was unavoidable, but it was annoying that he would even try. Guy pushed through, penetrating the layers of resistance Kakashi’s body put up. Kakashi drew in air through his teeth in a sharp whistle and swallowed hard.

When Guy was done, Kakashi studied the bandaged wound. It would have to do. It would definitely hold up long enough for Kakashi to get back to Rin and have her heal him properly. He leaned over and rested his head on Guy’s shoulder tiredly, feeling Guy tense and jolt.

His racing heart slowed, his breathing calmed, and his vision darkened. Without the discomfort to focus on, Kakashi’s tenuous sense of consciousness was already slipping away again. He mumbled something as he passed out yet again.

When his eye opened again, Guy was still there, at a slight distance now, loudly gobbling something down.

Kakashi winced and sat back up. The pain was easily manageable now, and the chakra exhaustion had faded. If he was going to get rid of this kid, now would be the optimal time for it.

“Oh! You’re awake!” Guy greeted him with a smile when he noticed the movement, talking with his mouth half-full. To start a proper conversation, he swallowed, cleared his throat, and asked, “Are you feeling better?”

To end the conversation, Kakashi said, “I killed your allies. I can kill you, too.”

It worked, temporarily. Empty space filled the conversation for about a minute. Guy pulled a face that was almost a pout, then stuffed his face with another fistful of food. Kakashi took the chance to stretch.

“Want some?” Guy tried for conversation again, this time offering Kakashi something to eat. He held out a misshapen ball of wild rice. “You’re probably really hungry. And it’s probably been a while since you got to have home cooking filled with love and affection! Being in the field all the time gets tiring. So I was thinking, a rice ball would make me feel like I’m back at home again!”

Kakashi narrowed his eye apprehensively. Eventually, Guy understood.

“…Oh! You think I poisoned it? Okay…” Guy tore it in half, “I’ll prove I didn’t. You choose, which side should I eat?”

Kakashi chose at random, and Guy complied obediently. He stuffed it in his mouth in a single bite, more-or-less inhaling it. He coughed and choked from downing it so fast, but other than that, he seemed fine. “How’s that? Convinced? I wouldn’t poison myself!”

Kakashi squinted at him again, but didn't question it. He took the remaining half of the rice ball from Guy’s hand, carefully biting into it. The rice was still warm, the fish inside of it was surprisingly savory, and Kakashi’s face just melted with pleasure as he chewed. Kakashi turned away, hiding his smile with one hand.

“Good, right? I’m pretty resourceful! I’d say that these definitely taste better than soldier pills! Which is good, since I can’t give you any of those! We’re running low lately.”

That went without saying. Iwagakure had had their supplies cut off after the destruction of Kannabi Bridge. The chokehold of the sanctions should be devastating them by now. Starve them out or break their spirit, until they had no choice but to give up or were left with so few capable shinobi that they could be eliminated. That’s what they were supposed to do. Because they were trying to kill each other. Because that’s what war was.

Iwagakure should be running low on medical supplies, too. Which made it even more idiotic that Guy would waste any on an enemy. Kakashi brought his hand up to the wound that Guy had cleaned and bandaged. It didn’t hurt anymore.

Reminded of the severity of their situation, Kakashi shot Guy another glare. Now that he’d eaten and rested, he was more than capable of putting up a good fight again. If he tried now, there was no doubt in his mind that he could successfully kill Guy. “Are you really so dumb you forgot we’re at war? Why would you waste your time helping me?”

Guy seemed surprised by the question, as if he really had forgotten that an endless war was still waging over the entire ninja world. He closed his eyes and crossed his arms, deep in thought. “Hmm… Kakashi Hatake, where are we right now? Konoha’s territory? Iwa’s? Any idea?”

Kakashi didn’t answer, which Guy took as a “no.”

“Me neither. Just some cave in the middle of nowhere. So, just for a minute, why don’t we have a tiny truce before we go back outside and rejoin the barracks? Things like wars are temporary. Villages are temporary. Even dads… are temporary.”

Kakashi glared, assuming that was a jab at Sakumo.

Guy noticed the glare and clarified, “When all this is over, I don’t really have anyone that I’m close to that I can return home to. Papa was the only one I had.”

“…Oh.” Kakashi’s glare softened as the words sunk in. “Your dad…”

And then, Guy was silent, composure suspended on a fraying thread. He covered his face with his hands and began shaking, quietly but powerfully– great, soundless sobs that wracked his entire body. Emotional and open, in front of his enemy, in the middle of a war.

Kakashi was stunned, and then stunned again when he found himself reaching for the Iwa ninja and awkwardly patting him on the shoulder in a feeble attempt at sympathy. Guy trembled and shook under his touch. His face was hidden behind his hands, but Kakashi could imagine the agony etched there, the confused hurt that probably mirrored the type Kakashi felt and refused to show when his own father had died. A sudden silence swept over the children, save for Guy’s attempts to stop crying. Kakashi looked away, listening to the fire hiss and pop. Guy said little else until his tears were spent.

And then, like that had never happened, Guy pulled away, shook his head, and aimed a grin at Kakashi. “Papa’s watching! I can’t be like that!” Guy jumped up to his feet and spun around in another over-dramatic pose. “I have to take all those bad feelings and turn them into strength! That’s what my papa would do! I can’t let him down!”

“If he’s not here anymore, he’s the one that let you down,” Kakashi mumbled. “He’s not here, he’s not going to care what you do anymore.”

With a sparkling grin and a thumbs-up, “I disagree! He’s here,” Guy hooked his thumb towards his chest, “In my heart, with me always, as long as I let his ideals live on with me! My father granted me the flames of youth, and I’m never letting them burn out! He died to pass that spirit onto me! That’s what youth is!”

“Immaturity” was probably more apt than “youth”. Kakashi stared at the campfire again. Sparks of burning remnants of wood landed on the rocks and lingered there for a few minutes, before he decided to snuff it out under his shoes. “He’s still dead, didn’t he? Anything he passed down to you is probably just going to get you killed, like it got him killed. You should learn from his example by not making his mistakes.”

He thought back on Obito’s words, how The White Fang was actually a hero, and Kakashi was an idiot. Even though he shouldn’t be letting his resolve be shaken in the middle of a war, even though Obito had died for that same thing, Kakashi couldn’t deny that his own words rang hollow. “Then again, what would I know about that…”

“Hm…” Guy dropped the theatrics and sat back down with a soft plop. “Well, you do have a point. He is gone. He couldn’t last forever, even if youth does. When I go back home, I’m still going back alone…” He seemed to deflate and his shoulders hunched forwards. He mumbled something unintelligible. And then, perked right back up and continued, “If there’s something that’s eternal and outlives things like that, it’s a rivalry! Our rivalry! Not even a war could sever that bond!”

“You’re an idiot,” Kakashi repeated for the umpteenth time.

Guy laughed again, “You’re the same as you were before! It’s nice. There are some things war can’t change. My idiocy, your lack of manners.”

“What makes you think you’re making it back home, anyway? Sentimental idiots like you who care too much about other people are the first to die at war.”

“I’ve made it this far. I’m not dying now! I’m stronger than I look!”

Guy scooted closer to Kakashi and showed off his own hands and arms. Tough, muscular, scarred-over. Kakashi hadn’t noticed before, but he looked like a much more polished warrior than the boy Kakashi had beaten at the chunin exams.

“In my village, we have a monument,” Guy continued. “It’s not as big or fancy as Konoha’s Hokage Rock. It’s just a little altar with a rock on it. One time, I was training, and I accidentally broke the rock. I thought Lord Onoki was going to be so mad! He really chewed me out!” Guy’s face darkened, and he shivered as he recalled the memory.

Onoki was a man so experienced that he’d faced down Madara Uchiha and lived to tell the tale. Kakashi couldn’t imagine being careless enough to tick off a man like that. The childish terror on Guy’s face was almost hilarious.

“—But then he just picked up another rock and put it on top, and he said no one would notice. The rock was just any old rock after all! Any old rock will do just fine!” Guy illustrated the point by picking up a rock from the floor of the cave. Little and cracked and completely unimpressive, like any other worthless weathered stone. “He said the symbol of our village isn’t on the altar, it’s inside the people. Rocks are rocks, leaves are leaves, people are people.” With just a bit of force, he crushed the rock to dust in his hands. “And people have an inner strength. I don’t really care after all if rock beats paper or the other way around. I wanna know if I beat you. Villages are places we happen to live in and fight for, but I’m still me. Iwa… Konoha… Suna… Whoever wins the war, that doesn’t change anything for me. I still have to see, one-on-one, who comes out on top between you and me. Things can only be eternal if I step forward and protect them myself. I want to do that now. For my eternal rivalry! _”_

“For eternal rivalry?” Kakashi echoed incredulously. “That’s why you saved me?”

“That’s why, I swear I’ll make it out of this alive. Because I know you will too. I can’t lose to you.”

Kakashi furrowed his eyebrows. “I’m just going to keep cutting down your forces. You’d be a traitor to your village just because you’re a sore loser?”

“I’d be a traitor for a good friend who I want to spend more time with.” A serious, sincere tone, and a dopey smile that even Kakashi couldn’t bring himself to doubt.

It was a strange kind of misplaced loyalty. It reminded him of the exact kind of idealism that Sakumo and Obito had died for. That should have made Kakashi sick to his stomach, because he knew where it led, every single time.

Instead, he smiled a small smile back. His lips twitched like he was trying not to laugh. His gaze softened as he studied Guy’s for any hints of deceit and found nothing. “…We're not friends” was all Kakashi offered in response, and even to his own ears, it sounded noncommittal.

Guy just beamed. "Well! Hopefully we are someday, or I'll feel really dumb when you stab me in the back after all this! But that's fine too. Iwa ninjas are tough as stone! Especially this Iwa ninja!”

It was probably meant to come off as lighthearted and playful. Guy was right about one thing. He was an Iwa ninja. “…I wouldn’t have done any of this for you. I wouldn’t even slow down if I saw you bleeding out in the middle of the field. I’d leave you for dead in a heartbeat. I’d kill you. Like we’re supposed to.”

The previously somewhat light atmosphere was changed into a solemn one. Kakashi focused on the reality of the situation. This would probably be the last time the two of them saw each other. Guy was nice, and nice guys got themselves killed.

Guy’s smile dropped, and he nodded. “I know. Which is why it’s a good thing I’m so much stronger than you are!” He teased. He kept his expression serious, but there was a mischievous glint in his eyes.

The taunt brought Kakashi out of his darker thoughts. “—Excuse me?”

“What, you think I’m not?” Guy was trying not to giggle.

“No, I must have misheard you. It almost sounds like you think you’re better than me.” Kakashi had always had something of a competitive streak, even though there were only a select few things that could bring it to the surface.

“I am! You’d never catch me laying around on the battlefield! I’m too good for that! I’m just way too strong!” He flashed a grin and a wink in Kakashi’s direction, hooking a thumb toward himself. “No one could take down Might Guy! So, I’m just fine! You don’t have to worry about having to save me, Kakashi Hatake!” He assured with all the confidence in the world.

Kakashi arched an eyebrow. “You’re getting pretty cocky for a man who was almost about to be breathing through a hole in his neck earlier.” Despite the seemingly harsh words, there was an underlying hint of amusement that even surprised Kakashi. He wasn’t threatening this kid, he was poking fun at him.

Guy picked up on the tone and played right along. He leaned in close and stared Kakashi down with his best glare, which was so giddy that it barely qualified as a glare at all. “So, what’re you saying? You think _you’re_ better than _me_?”

“Obviously.” Kakashi didn’t budge.

“Oh yeah?! Are you prepared to prove it?”

“Anytime.”

“Good!” Guy leaned away, feeling self-satisfied. “Then as soon as this war is over, you’re on! It’s on! Don’t you dare try to run away and get out it! I don't give up easily, Rival!"

It was the first time Guy had called him anything besides his full name. Kakashi scoffed. “Well, I’m good at ignoring annoying people who don’t give up.”

“That sounds like a challenge!”

It actually was, strangely enough.

Instead of admitting that out loud, Kakashi rolled his eye. Leveling with this one was impossible. Kakashi just kept being pulled into his pace. Guy hadn’t even made an actual argument, but he somehow had Kakashi convinced. Kakashi would have to deal with this one for a long time, even long after this war ended. If it ever ended.

As if he’d already won, Guy was so smug that he bounced in place. “I’m glad! Whatever the challenge, I’ll rise to meet it! The bond with you is the last one I have left. I’m not going to let it disappear.” Guy balled his hand into a fist and held it out to Kakashi expectantly. “You’re my rival, right?”

It took Kakashi a few seconds to realize what he was supposed to do with that, but eventually, he held out a fist over his own palm as well. Kakashi inhaled through his nose as he waited for Guy’s signal.

“Rock, paper, scissors-!”

Guy threw rock.

Kakashi threw paper.

Guy grinned sheepishly. “I lost…!”

And just like that, the tension between them had vanished. The gravity of the moment was gone. Any insinuated threat or possible darker turn to the situation dissipated entirely as both boys laughed. It was somehow back to this, the back-and-forth ‘rivalry’ that Kakashi hadn’t thought much of before. Back to Guy giving an impassioned speech about how he would train and be stronger and next time, he’d come out on top, over something as silly and meaningless as rock-paper-scissors. Back to Kakashi rolling his eyes and answering with some snide remark.

Next to him, he felt rather than saw Guy lean a little closer to him.

It should have been uncomfortable, maybe, the two of them cramped together in such a small space. But Kakashi let Guy drape himself against Kakashi’s shoulder and silently allowed the warmth and close contact.

“I’ll have to train harder to win next time. I have something to fight for, too. My eternal rivalry!”

They sat side-by-side by the fire that night, both too wrapped up in their grief and the comfort of a moment’s respite from war to do anything else. Guy dozed off for the small bit of night they still had left; Kakashi didn’t dare.

When the first light of dawn crept into the cave, Guy opened his eyes and pulled away from Kakashi.

“Well, we should get going,” Guy said, hopping up to his feet and punching the air. He was so wide awake that Kakashi wondered if he’d only been pretending to sleep. “At least one of us has a war to go lose. And then we both have to go home and get stronger. You’ll have to train a lot to be strong enough to just ignore me, after all!” Guy’s indirect way of asking Kakashi not to die.

Kakashi smiled and blew air out of his nose in what was almost a laugh.

Guy stopped shadowboxing and extended his hand to Kakashi to help him up. “Ready, Rival?”

Kakashi accepted the hand, and Guy lifted him to his feet, pulling the painful weight of the world away with a simple smile, so warm and familiar, so foreign even though it felt like Kakashi had known it all of his life.


End file.
